France becomes first country to ban all plastic cups and plates

New Delhi: France has become the first country in the world to ban the use of disposal cups, plates and other utensils in a law that will be effective from 2020.

All the disposable dishes in France will have to be made from biologically sourced material now and the products must be able to be composted.

In July, the country banned the use of plastic bags.

France currently throws away more than 4.7 billion plastic cups every year, only 1 percent of which are recycled, The Christian Science Monitor said.

While the environmentalists have welcomed the ban, many packaging industry lobbyists have criticized the move saying it violates European Union rules on the free movement of goods.

“Finding a package that meets the really critical food hygiene requirements that consumers want, that can also be composted in a domestic composter…right now they don’t exist,” said Eamonn Bates, secretary general of the Brussels-based body.

“My members are not against bio plastics or new products. But the industry does oppose them being imposed for certain applications especially when the life-cycle analysis shows that there is no environmental basis for doing so,” he said.